gray area
35
5.3
- noun
- /ɡreɪ ˈɛəriə/
- Informal
:
zona gris
- Clarification of the gray areas in the regulations is an ongoing process.
- fall into gray areas
- a large gray area
And so it just feels like a massive Gray area for more than half the population.
- And so it just feels like a massive Gray area for more than half the population.
- So, so it's just because it's such a grey area, there's nothing else to say.
- They try to sort of use the Gray areas of science and then paint their own picture.
- Like there's no sort of, like there's a lot of Gray area here that I've yet to figure out.
- He's a grey area in a world that doesn't like grey areas.
- Nothing bad, but it is still a little Gray area.
- This one's particularly beautiful because it's, it digs into all those Gray areas of life and love.
- But they are stuck in a holding pattern, stuck in a Gray area because nothing is being expressed.
- Especially when it comes to influencing because there is so much Gray area here.
- It's really kind of the theme of all of my work, finding the middle, finding the Gray areas existing in it.
- That's a very clear that is such A cause and effect problem with no Gray area.
- So, you know, I, I learned very early on, like when you decide to be a bodybuilder, there's a lot of Gray area and you can't dabble in that.
- Or then there was a Gray area where some were not horrible.
- My opinions only hit that Gray area during emotionally difficult times.
- It's much uglier, much more Gray area.
Examples
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Public security is the gray area between national and citizen security.
Academic text (2006) -
Everything else is in the gray area.
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And so it just feels like a massive Gray area for more than half the population.
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I think for me that this is kind of a very Gray area question.
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Like sure, many times when we're talking about Gray areas, we got to be really careful about this.
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And for me, drag is a way to show the Gray areas because it's not black and white.
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There is a gray area when different websites are operated by the same company.
Academic text (2011) -
But we still have these philosophical arguments about the gray areas.
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People tend to find all sorts of gray areas in which to couch their answers.
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The truth lies somewhere in the vast gray area between these two overstated positions.
Synonyms
4
7.4
A situation between two clear sides where rules are unclear
1
8.1
Not clearly one thing or another so people cannot decide what it is
Antonyms
How Clear
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an unclear or undefined domain' is directly and compositionally derived from 'gray' (indeterminate) + 'area' (domain/subject), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the figurative sense. This adjective+noun pattern and the 'gray/grey zone' metaphor are common cross-linguistically, supporting immediate comprehension.
Etymology
Gray area may come from the simple image of the color gray between black and white, a part of a picture or space where you cannot see a clear line. That's why people use it to mean a situation that is 'unclear' or 'not clearly allowed'.